Don’t use the Homeless as Anti-Gay Pawns!

Unbelievable, but true: The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. threatened to cut its city-supported social services, in protest, if the D.C. Council were to pass marriage equality. Those services include homeless shelters, food programs for needy families, and health services.

Now the bill has passed – a great victory for equality. But we need to make sure they don’t follow through on their threat.

Tell DC’s Archbishop: don’t use the homeless and needy as political pawns!

Letter to

Archbishop Donald Wuerl

I greatly respect the work that Catholic Charities does to help thousands of homeless and needy members of the Washington, D.C. community. It is on their behalf that I write to you today, with great concern for your stated plan to cut back those services in the event of the District’s passage of marriage equality for same-sex couples.

The services you provide, some of which are supported by the dollars of LGBT Catholics and Catholic allies of the LGBT community, serve an important role and should not be sacrificed to make a political point.

The Catholic doctrine of the inherent dignity of all human beings should guide you away from penalizing poor people in the District of Columbia. And it is this very same doctrine that compels many people of faith to support marriage equality as well.

I sincerely hope you will not continue to pit one group of God’s children against another.

I am confident that your charitable enterprises are motivated by charity and not politics, and in that spirit, I ask you: please do not cut Catholic Charities’ social services programs.